17 Mar Boston’s “Party” SoloDallas Cover

And believe me, we have a lot to talk about Boston, Marshall tone and the like.

Please watch this for now; I’ll be back later and introduce you to a great researcher, he’s done what I did for AC/DC with Boston.

His name on our SoloDallas.com is “RockmanCentral“, and he literally uncovered all the known information, secrets, methods and gear to get “that” Boston “tone”.

Over the years, I remember going to his site to learn.

On this cover, I used a little “gadget” that I have been owning for maybe 15-20 years: a “Rockman“. It was given to me by my Italian-Canadian friend “Max” (Max, are you reading? Was finally able to put your Rockman to work, after all these years!). The “Rockman” is a product of Mr. Tom Scholtz himself, but I will let RockmanCentral talk to you about it when he is ready to.

I went straight into the Rockman with all guitars (clean and driven) and then, output the Rockman into the Wizard Modern Classic, with settings presence 0, bass 0, miss 0 (!), treble 6, master 4 and pre 2.

Really in clean mode, as the big part here had to be the Rockman’s.

Recorded with a SM57 and U87.

The EQ Plugins I used on this one were Neve 1081 modules, a classic in rock music.

Below: a Rockman Unit similar to the one used in this video.

Update, courtesy of our RockmanCenter.com Friend, we now can post this superb image of Mr. Tom Scholtz who appears to be in the studio probably recording (right mouse “open in a new window” to enlarge it).

Several things are worth a mention (as superb gear of that time and all times in recording history): A 1176 Urei Compressor, a DBX Compressor, two tape machines, several of his own Rockman units, a Conn Strobe Guitar tuner (just like AC/DC’s, as seen in movie Let There Be Rock) and several others. Superb. Thank you Bob!

Ah, ok,but i´ve listened to the original tune (the solo part) and i can hear two guitars being played(actually I can not tell whether it was a harmony or the guitar was dubbed).Do you know if Tom used an octaver/harmonizer for his solos?

JaiminhoPagina

Most likely the solo was overdubbed.
Harmonizer pedals sound somewhat “fake” because, with them, the interval between the original signal and the harmony is always the same (major 3rd, minor 3rd, 5th, etc) and sometimes the interval must be different in order to make the solo remain in the right key.
As it’s a studio recording, the way to get the best result is by overdubbing. And since we are talking about Tom Scholtz…. We know that he always go for “perfection”.

cevapcic

I have always loved the Black Rose album with the late Gary Moore on guitar. Especially the B side of it. It was also my first Lizzy album
I would love to see someone do Black Rose, would be interesting as there are loads of little things and licks in that song.

RockmanCentral

More than likely, there are at least 2 rhythm guitars (1 panned left and 1 panned right), though there could be 4 or even 5 playing rhythm (2 left, 2 right, possible 1 more panned center). This was pretty standard practice for Tom.

Additionally, there’s also at least 3 lead guitars. Again, 1 panned left, 1 panned right, and 1 panned center. During the solo you can hear where he lowers the volume of the 2 panned outside so that you can hear the 1 panned center.

Tom generally doesn’t use harmonizers or octaves. I only know of one place where he may have used an octave, and that’s on the flanged rhythm solo in “Don’t Look Back”. Gary Phil, the other lead guitarist since the Third Stage album, does have a harmonizer that he uses during a solo he does on tour.

The other guitarist from the 1st 2 albums was Barry Goudreau. He isn’t credited for much on the albums. He played the leads for “Let Me Take You Home Tonight” , “Longtime”, the intro and outro leads for “Don’t Look Back”, the leads on “Used To Bad News” and “Don’t Be Afraid”. Pretty much everything else was played by Tom Scholz (though some people dispute that).

Some of Barry’s other works include his debut solo album, which ended up getting him kicked out of Boston. After that he had a band called “Orion the Hunter” and later another band called “RTZ”. All of these included at least some participation from Brad Delp, Boston’s lead singer. Where Brad isn’t singing, it was usually Fran Cosmo, another Boston alumni. He later teamed up with Brad again for “Delp and Goudreau”. BTW, Brad and Barry had a very close relationship since they were related by marriage (they married sisters).

I highly recommend almost all of Barry’s stuff outside of Boston. It’s definitely a lot more raw than Tom’s compositions in Boston, but he is one hell of a guitarist and there are some real gems there with Brad singing.

A-ha, THAT is my signature Wanted to do something similar to The Rocker and even before, to “Gimme a Bullet”, but you know I wouldn’t dare “ruin” the original track. I would feel as a thief, or unrespectful to the original opera. Can’t do it. However, those few notes at the end I allowed myself to shove them in there 😀 Thank you

BTW André, that type of vibrato (Kossoff/Angus) is definitely what brought me to playing guitar, more than 30 years ago. It’s what “ticks” me into it as well. If I could wish to be able to do just one thing on guitar, it would be “that” style vibrato. It’s not easy, takes a lot of time to get there (but it’s totally worth it; I too feel shivers down the spine while I do it every time!) and some finger strength, but the most of it is understanding the tricks to do it. And all of this, I will try and transfer to you guys.

JaiminhoPagina

Same with me Fil. Exactly the same.
I often spend hours trying to improve my vibrato. The ironic thing is that when I try to record something afterwards my hand is so tired that the result sounds like crap – haha. XD
It seems to me that every detail about it can make a difference: angle, grip, finger strength. As you said, it’s not easy. lol

EVERY detail in fact counts. You will have to master everything consciously. BUT once you succeed (and you will) it will come to you, in the sense that you will adjust automatically for your vibrato instinctively, though you’ll still have to be in control. The vibrato particularly is one of those things that when you don’t do it right even for a split millisecond, the magnificent world of music will fall down immediately, and you and your listeners will hear it immediately.

RockmanCentral

Hi guys. Fil shot me an email and asked about re-posting some info from my website, RockmanCentral.com, and invited me to participate with you guys a bit. First of all, I want to say that that was a classy thing to do. So many people these days just copy and paste without asking. So right off, I love this guy!!

As chance would have it, I had just stumbled across some of SoloDallas’ videos while I was researching the Metro amps. So the timing couldn’t have been better. Then I discover that he’s gotten a bit of the Boston bug, and whoa! Now were talking!! BTW, in case you haven’t heard, Boston is going on tour this summer, so check out BandBoston.com for tour dates.

I got hooked on Boston when I was in 3rd Grade. All I had heard up till that point was Disco, so when I heard “Don’t Look Back” for the first time, I was floored!!! I had never heard rhythm guitars, harmony leads or vocals like that before in my life. Shortly after high school, I finally started learning to play guitar, and I’ve been researching Boston’s tone ever since.

Now first of all, I want to freely admit that my guitar playing skills never really developed. The problem with being hooked on Boston is that you can never find the (minimum) 3 or 4 guys to learn the rest of the guitar parts to practice with. And as for someone that can sing like the late Brad Delp, forget it!!! So my approach has been to sequence in the drum tracks and other instruments, and then try to record the guitar tracks, one track at a time, until I could build up a song. Unfortunately, my technique sucks and it’s hell for me to get through a full song “clean”. But, like Tom Scholz, I’m tenacious (and I comp a lot 😉

With that, I invite all of you over to RockmanCentral.com to read up on 20+ years of research into Boston’s sound. Although most of the site is dedicated to the Rockman gear, there’s lot’s of history, photo’s and even a few sound samples relating to Boston’s early years as well. From there, I’d be happy to try to answer (almost) any question you might have and see where this goes. In any case, I love to see/hear peoples cover tunes, so it would be great to see people (that actually know how to play) take whatever advice I can offer and do something with it.

In the mean time, here’s a cover tune I did based on tracks from the Rockband game (more on that in time). Sorry for no video of me playing, but it would be hard to show 17 guitar tracks layered up!!! LOL!!!

Bob please be Welcome here bro
Thank you for accepting my invitation. Now, if there is anyone smart he’d take the chance to ask you a million questions like I would right now ( 😆 ).
But the first practical one I am going to ask you immediately is: you suggested the Sustainor as the best solution (at its price that is) to get some real Boston tone. There’s one on ebay right now (wrongly called “Sustainer” by the auctioneer) that is going to USD 500 already. It’s the 200 model. Should I go for it? And how high should I bid? Additionally, do you know what microphones Boston used to record their first albums? And what console they tracked them and mixed onto? And what tape machine they used for tracking? Some interesting questions aren’t they? A-gain, thanks for being here with us!

RockmanCentral

Thanks Fil. Wow, you really DID have some questions lined up!! I’ll do my best to answer.

All of the various Rockman’s have their own unique sound, though most people can’t tell them apart. The one pictured above is probably a Model IIB, the same model used to record parts of the Third Stage album. It was designed as a practice device, so there was no remote channel switching capability. Not a big deal if you are using it to record with, but not ideal for a performance.

The Sustainor was designed for performers in mind, and provides a lot of flexibility in changing sounds and such. So, yes, it is probably the best unit for performing AND recording. But like I said, it DOES sound different (and quite noticeably so) from the headphone amps. There is a lot more Pre-Distortion EQ’ing built into it to give it that classic Boston “honk” in the midrange. However, you DO also have a dedicated Pre-Distortion effects loop so you can insert an EQ to alter that filtering.

You mentioned it being a Model 200. This was a major revision over the Model 100, the most noticeable difference being improvements to the auto-clean circuit. Some “late model” 200’s (with a serial number > 19,571) also have what RockmanCentral has coined as the “Double IC mod”. This added the “lead-leveler” circuit, which greatly improved the performance of the compressor. Both are desirable so this is the model Sustainor I would recommend. If the Sustainor you mentioned is one of these late model “Double IC” Sustainors, then $500 is not an uncommon price point for these units. If it’s just a standard Model 200, then it might be a bit over priced.

Thanks Bob. Really, many thanks. Okay, going to increase my bid on it right now – I don’t think it’s the IC one, but still I want one of the 200 models.
I’ve just been outbid on it, but the out bidder has 0 feedback/auctions made, which made me suspicious.

Regarding microphones used for recording and consoles for tracking, do you know any of that? CAN it be shared if so, or it would be better to have people read it at RockmanCentral.com? You know me Bob, I just know what it means to run a blog that has a lot of our work inside it… THANKS! Fil

RockmanCentral

Oh yes, David and I go way back!! He is a great tech and diehard Rockman fan!! He can take your Rockman modules and bring them up to top performance. He can also do several mods, such as adding additional switching logic so you can select all 4 modes of the Sustainor via footswitch! (This is a mod that I came up with years ago and he later developed a similar mod to accomplish the same thing). He is very busy but if you can catch him at the right time, you won’t believe the sonic difference he can make to your Rockmodules.

RockmanCentral

I should also point out another highly talented and incredible obsessed Rockman fan. This guy has an incredible electrical engineering background and dissects every nuance of the circuits down and explains it in the most intimate details. His website http://www.rockman.fr/ takes what we started on RockmanCentral and runs with it in far greater detail. And despite being French, he’s a really nice guy too! 😉

RockmanCentral

I have articles and interviews going back to the late 70’s, and it’s a LOT to wade through. Sometimes I’ll find an article where he mentions this or that, but it’s as of a certain point in time. For example, I know he started out on an old 4 track making demo’s, then later invested in a 12 track Scully deck. But I know for a fact that the debut album was tracked on a 24 track machine. So I’ll have to find the article that mentions it. I do know that by the time he had gotten the record deal, he had invested about $30,000 in gear, which, needless to say, was a LOT of money back then!

Now, I do have interviews from around the time of the Walk On album, where he identifies what he’s using quite specifically. It’s very likely that he was using the same thing for back in the Third Stage era as well, and maybe even from the time of the debut.

So, as of the 4th Boston album, he was using Scotch 226 tape on (2) 3M M79 24 track machines (one for the base tracks and the other for vocals and lead guitars) with an Audiotronix 501 board and a Fadex automation system.

RockmanCentral

I can confirm that he’s always used the same Scotch 226 tape, going back to the debut album. Looks like the same is true for the console and automation system. Given that, I would guess that he was using the same tape deck as well. He probably just added the 2nd one after the debut album.

For the 12 string acoustic part on “More Than A Feeling”, he used a cheap imported Yamaha 12 string that he mic’d with a Electro-Voice RE-17. The drums (and I would guess the guitars as well) were mic’d with Sure SM57’s.

Bob, WOW. THAT is info: thank you!
With your permission (and due mention) I am posting this image up there in post, to be more visible (also, it’s huge).

I see several things of interest here: tape machines, several Rockman units (several types?), one Urei 1176 Compressor, a Conn Strobe guitar tuner, a DBX (compressor) unit, the console which may be a Neve and several other things. THIS image is holy grail. Additionally, he seems to be holding an SG guitar, with what would appear to be as an original Di Marzio Super Distortion in at least the bridge.

I need to remember to wear my eyeglasses 😆
Well, I have this in common with him: I too LOVE compressors Bob. I don’t think it’s ever too much IF it sounds good, and he always made them sound terrific. Matter of fact Bob, in the original SVDS system I love so much (a Schaffer-Vega Diversity, also owned by Mr. Scholtz!) there is a terrific compressor. Love the thing so much that we are making a replica of the unit, audio-circuits only, not wireless. I also own a Strobe, same one from the same age. I love this stuff.

RockmanCentral

Most of the blue modules you see are Rockman 12 band EQ’s. These EQ’s are unique in that they have tighter precision on the 7 mid frequencies, where you need the most control. He has banks of these EQ’s on each side of his mixing console; literally one on EVERY CHANNEL of his board!!

He also has several Chorus/Delay and Stereo Echo modules, which are probably assigned to Effects Sends. You’ll notice to left (behind him), there is a Rockman Modular Headcase sitting on top of a Rockman Speaker cab. Loaded in here is a Rockman XPR, Stereo Echo, Chorus/Delay, Smart Gate, MIDI Octopus and a Rockman 500 stereo amplifier.

I have my suspicions that the Rockman XPR may actually be a prototype Ultimatum Rack unit that never made it to production. That’s something I’ll have to ask him about the next opportunity I get (perhaps this summer).

Oh yes I will test them together but the Rockman is hissy as hell, so I already know the combination of the two would have some noise. This was common back then anyway. I hope that my new unit, the Sustainor 200 will be more silent so to use it in conjunction with the SVDS and/or the Replica.

gallanman

I will, like you, really curious about the result of combining Sustainor / SVDS!!
Why not test the reply, it might be interesting for those who want to combine the replica to other effect modules 😉
A song by Boston in the lead for this test?
I will think of this one: “More than a feeling” (I remember when you publish the cover on youtube with “smokin” a few of years!)

Yes used to cover that song with the band a long time ago: i was in a sort of free tribute band. I am into one sort of obscure song if theirs called “lady”. Know it? Will cover quite a few Free tunes shortly

JaiminhoPagina

Fil, “Lady” is actually a song of Paul Rodgers’ band “Peace”. 😛
He created the band in 1971 during Free’s first break up with bassist Stewart McDonald and drummer Mick Underwood (Rodgers was doing the guitar work). It didn’t go forward, though. So, in 1972 he re-formed Free with the other guys in order to try to “save” Koss from his drug addiction.
For some reason the song appeared in a few FREE compilation albums. Probably because of the indirect connection between the bands.

JaiminhoPagina

Indeed. Listening to it now too. Very beautiful. Rodgers is a great songwriter, I must admit.

Ah. Can’t wait to hear it! 😛

By the way, have you thought about playing some other tunes like Woman, Mr. Big, I’ll Be Creeping, etc? (hard to pick the favourites – lol). I find the guitar work on many Free songs simply amazing. I especially love the Croydon and Sunderland shows (“Free Live! – with bonus tracks” and “Songs of Yesterday CD4″). The band was REALLY tight live.

JaiminhoPagina

But now I remembered…. Free DID rehearse the song for the Japanese tour in 1972 though (Songs of Yesterday CD 3), but without Koss.
But they never actually recorded it in studio, so… well… I guess “Peace” is really the “original” – haha

JaiminhoPagina

Paul Rodgers was playing the guitar during the 1972 Japanese tour (AND singing) because Koss was “unwell”.
At that point Free was a different band though. Andy Fraser had left and Tetsu Yamauchi was playing bass instead. John “Rabbit” Bundrick also joined and provided full-time keyboard work.
Right after the break-up in 1971, Koss entered in deep depression (he loved the band to death, ironically) and buried himself in that self-destructing path. They reformed the band trying to bring him back, but during and after 1972, he was still a wreck..
“Free at Last” was the last album with the original line-up and also the last album where Koss played the guitar all the way through. There are many horror stories about disastrous gigs or many instances where he couldn’t even get onstage and later tried to apologize to his bandmates, only to intoxicate himself with drugs once again afterwards.
Fraser was the first to give up (forcing the band to hire Tetsu and Rabbit) and later Koss also quit the tour to treat himself (right before the Japanese leg of the tour – so you guess what happened next). Rodgers and Kirke continued to try to save Koss by “dragging” the band with the new line-up.
The “Heartbreaker” recording sessions were the last straw. Kossoff played on a few tracks, but the band couldn’t wait for him to be well in order to finish the album (the “rehab” sessions weren’t working), so they hired a session musician, Snuffy Walden. Therefore, not every track from that point features Koss on guitar. Sometimes it’s either Rodgers filling in or it’s Walden trying to imitate him.
Then, there were other problems afterwards that finally destroyed what was left of the band (Koss listed as guest musician rather than a band member on the Heartbreaker sleeve – wich was a even more terrible blow to him – a disastrous US tour with Wendell Richardson replacing Koss, a fist fight between Rodgers and Rabbit…). By 1973, it was the end.
I know it sounds like a really bad sob-story, but it’s what it is.
Drugs are really a terrible thing, I must say.

banane

Posted at 18:18h, 20 March

Great telling Andre, thanks. +1 on the drug stuff. A former friend of mine killed three people with his car because of drugs.

Thanks mate
Well I say again: it’s thanks to AC/DC. Learning AC/DC teaches timing, the most important thing for a musician. With that in our “bag of skills”, there ain’t no stopping.
No SVDS here, as the Rocktron unit is hissy on its own, would have been too much even for a gate. As soon as I too get my replica, will hook it up. However, Tom Scholtz (Boston’s founder and main guitar player) DID have a SVDS that he used at least live…. and who knows, maybe also in the studio? Will investigate 😉

Devil'Fingers"

Timing- I know it’s really important, but sh**, I want to learn vibrato, to use it properly, without ” thinking”. Vibrato is such beautiful thing, but it’s so hard Practice? Only way to get it?
(Great cover mate)

I know, I am in the position to understand you perfectly.
But I still think completely about the vibrato as I do it, just like everyone I think is as they do it: it’s a matter of uber concentration ( 😆 ) and some finger strength/training.
But you WILL be thinking about what you’re doing. There is no “automatic” mode to switch on

Thank you Well actually, it’s just like I had a mixer mate: I do everything “in the box” though, which is the tech term to indicate that I am recording AND mixing within protools.
Thanks to emulation software such as Universal Audio (ProTools hardware & Plugins) I can “use” modules that simulate fantastic hardware of the past, such as, EQ consoles, compressors, reverbs, delays and tape emulators. And I do. On this one I used a Neve 1081 module to equalize the guitars. The sound won’t change drastically as in, if it sounds like scheisser “live”, it will be the same or worse with these plugins; hover IF recorded properly from a good source (the sound of my amps and guitars) really good results can be achieve, almost comparable with what was done in the studio. Many studios nowadays are shutting down for this very reason.

KyleSG

SoloDallas is right but also keep late 70’s/early 80’s jmps in sight as well as they sound just as good as a vintage 59 and deals come up all the time online for them which are much cheaper then buying even a new marshall type amp of lesser quality.

Angusrocks101

Do you do something in the mixing to make it sound so loud and even if it didnt sound like the original ,which it does in this case, make it sound like it was the guitar recorded on the actual recording? And have you seen my Hells Bells cover?

When you mix, you’ve already recorded the sound coming from your guitar. Is during recording that you make sure that you are getting a great sound, no matter the loudness, as the microphones have also a gain control that compensate for lower volumes. So once you got your sound in, it won’t matter if you were loud or not. You got “that sound”. What is not replicable yet is the speakers breakup.

Angusrocks101

Angusrocks101

I’ve been looking them up. Fully assembled they come to 3000+ but that’s what I would rather do because I wouldn’t ever try and put one together. Lol. The 1967 10,000 series seems to sound exactly like your 1959 in the video that you demonstrate the Aracom attenuator.